Calls placed over wireless telecommunications facilities often involve charges incurred by both the calling party and the called party. The calling party incurs conventional telecommunications charges (e.g., toll charges) associated with the call, as well as so-called "air time" charges when the calling party originates the call over wireless telecommunications facilities (e.g., a cellular telephone). The called party also will incur air time charges when using wireless telecommunications facilities, even though the called party did not originate the call. These air time charges lead people with wireless communications devices to turn off their equipment to avoid paying charges for unwanted calls. Also, prospective callers may feel inhibited to call a wireless telephone number, knowing that the called party will also be charged for the call. This reduces the utility of having the wireless communications device in the first place.
One way to increase the use of wireless telecommunications facilities is to provide a system for billing the calling party for charges associated with the called party's use of the wireless facilities. An example of such a system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,557,664 (the "'664 patent"), assigned to AT&T Corp. In the system disclosed in the '664 patent, the calling party dials a special, non-geographic telephone number associated with the wireless subscriber. The wireless subscriber's telephone also has a separate mobile identification number ("MIN"). The system determines the MIN, and then sends the dialed number and the MIN to the wireless switch associated with the subscriber's telephone in the form of a signaling message. The signaling message indicates to the wireless switch that billing for the air time for the wireless subscriber is to be suppressed. The signaling message is disclosed in the '664 patent as a Signaling System 7 ("SS7") message.
One problem with the system disclosed in the '664 patent is that it requires the wireless switch to receive and utilize the SS7, or other type of signaling message, in order to suppress billing for the wireless called party. However, most commonly available wireless switches, sometimes referred to as "mobile switching centers" ("MSCs"), are not equipped to utilize these signaling messages. Unless a specially equipped MSC is used that can utilize SS7 or other signaling messages, the signaling messages will be ignored and the called wireless subscriber will eventually be billed for a call that the calling party was intended to be billed for. Moreover, even if one network includes MSCs that can utilize SS7 messages, if a wireless call spans multiple networks, the MSCs in all the networks must be able to utilize SS7 messages for the system disclosed in the '664 patent to operate properly. This will rarely be the case.
Based on the foregoing, there is a need for a calling party paid wireless telecommunication system that does not require specially equipped MSCs to operate properly.